Trademarks + Brands by Corsearch

Get out your Hammer pants and inflatable sneakers because that popular drink brand from the 1990s is back. ZIMA the clear, malt-based alcoholic beverage brand has returned!

The MillerCoors-produced “maltaholic” drink reached the height of popularity in the 1990s with more than 1 million barrels sold in 1994. But then sales began to tumble, slipping to 403,000 barrels in 1996, according to Slate, before the citrusy drink was discontinued in the United States in 2008.

So what’s behind the ZIMA brand comeback? The ZIMA website explains: “We’re here because you are, and you deserve to experience this thing, even if it’s just for one incredible zummer.” The company’s marketing manager at MillerCoorsPlus told Business Insider that "tons of people" have asked for Zima to return to the market.

This week’s update includes news about Japanese IDN TLDs, .WHOSWHO, .SHOP, and more.

Amazon Registry Japanese IDN TLDs – Change of Date for General Availability
Please note that the General Availability launch date for Amazon Registry Services, Inc.’s Japanese IDN TLDs, below, has been updated from July 30, 2017 to September 12, 2017 (14:00 UTC):

.書籍(.book in Japanese)
.クラウド(.cloud in Japanese)
.ファッション(.fashion in Japanese)
.食品(.food in Japanese)
.セール(.sale in Japanese)
.ストア(.store in Japanese)
.家電 (.consumerelectronics in Japanese)

Some of you might remember the generic food aisles that appeared in grocery stores in the 1980s. Or, perhaps you’ve seen the “No Name” brand sold at Loblaws in Canada? Well, now there’s a brand called “Brandless” selling household goods and food online — all at a price point of $3 or less.

California entrepreneur Ido Leffler came up with the idea for Brandless as a way of eliminating corporate markups on common household products. He took his idea to Tina Sharkey of Sherpa Foundry and together they launched what Fast Company writes is “a new landing point for a consumer who’s looking for quality and transparency, and eschews brand loyalty and the resulting choice overload familiar to anyone who’s ever stepped into a grocery store aisle.”

Sharkey told Fast Company: “There’s a generation of consumers now who don’t want their parents’ establishments, they don’t want their parents’ governments, they don’t want their parents’ industries, and they don’t want their parents’ brands.”

Spanish retailer Mango’s attempt to block TheFaceShop’s trademark for “Mango Seed TheFaceshop” in Singapore has been overruled.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) called the Mango trademark "not highly distinctive" because it "could be considered descriptive of the products," such as mango-flavored or scented. The ruling found that TheFaceShop’s trademark’s use of the words "The FaceShop" and "seed" served to distinguish it from the Mango trademark. In particular, it noted that the use of the word “seed” eliminated any possible confusion between the two marks.

The trademark registration for the blue-striped sari worn by Mother Teresa of Calcutta became official in India last year, but it only recently came to light since the trademark owners — the Missionaries of Charity — the order of nuns she founded, was not interested in publicity.

Applications for use of the blue stripes on stationery, textiles, and for social and charitable services were first filed in December 2013 and the trademark was granted by India’s Trade Marks Registry on September 4, 2016 — the same day Mother Teresa was canonized by Pope Francis.

Biswajit Sarkar, an attorney for the Missionaries of Charity, told The Times of India that the “charity wasn’t too eager to highlight the fact as it isn’t too keen on punishing people.” Sarkar went on to say that the organization would take “severe” legal action against any unauthorized use of the design, including charitable organizations, pointing out that no exceptions will be made for religious orders and non-profits. “. . . whether it is for commercial gain or not is not the issue,” Sarkar said. “We are thinking about our identity. If the blue pattern, which is unique in the world, is diluted or used by the public, then one fine morning the organisation will lose their identity.” (To learn more about the significance of the blue-striped sari, visit the Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center website.)